Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear's son working for Bluegrass Pipeline developers

Aug. 2, 2013

Written by

The Courier-Journal

Andrew Beshear

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear’s son, attorney Andrew Beshear, has been representing the developers of the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline, which would carry natural gas liquids through Kentucky.

Andrew Beshear works for the law firm Stites & Harbison, and in a written statement, he said Stites has done work for Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, through its subsidiary Texas Gas, since 1995, or 10 years before he began working for Stites.

“We were simply hired through a long-time client to provide legal services,” the younger Beshear said. “Those services have been performed by more than a dozen lawyers.

The State Journal in Frankfort first reported the connection between Andrew Beshear and the controversial Bluegrass Pipeline Wednesday night online. It comes as critics of the pipeline have been asking Gov. Beshear to include potential action on the pipeline at a coming special legislative session.

Beshear has said that won’t happen.

“Because there are a number of issues to be resolved before any definitive action can be taken by the Bluegrass Pipeline owners, including whether the company can use ‘eminent domain’ to acquire right-of-way, there appears to be no need to place this matter on the agenda for the August special session,” Beshear said in a statement earlier this week.

“If we find that there is a need for state government to change its role in this process to increase protections for our landowners or for the protection of our environment, we will have adequate time to take any necessary action in the regular session that begins in January 2014,” the statement said.

On Thursday, Beshear spokeswoman Kerri Richardson said the governor’s staff “continues to review the state’s role, if any, in the proposed pipeline project” and that the staff does “not see any issues with conflict of interest.”

Steve Bryant, a spokesman for the Bluegrass Pipeline, said the company did not hire Andrew Beshear because of his relationship to the governor. He referred to the younger Beshear’s statement for more details.

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Andrew Beshear said in his statement that he and Stites lawyers follow all conflict-of-interest rules for lawyers.

Andrew Melnykovych, spokesman for the Kentucky Public Service Commission, said Andrew Beshear accompanied four executives from the pipeline companies to the PCS at a meeting on April 2.

“It did not involve any regulatory matters,” Melnykovych said. “Rather, it was informational.”

He said it involved the company letting the PSC know about the planned conversion of a portion of a natural gas transmission pipeline, which is not regulated by the PSC, to carry natural gas liquids — and that the change would “not affect any of the jurisdictional natural gas distribution utilities that are currently supplied by that pipeline.

“They told us there would be no supply interruptions or contract changes as a result of the conversion, should it ultimately occur.”

Tim Joice, who follows water policy issues for the Kentucky Waterways Alliance, said “we certainly hope there is nothing more to this.”

He said the governor should not wait to take up pipeline concerns related to eminent domain and a lack of state regulations covering natural gas liquids pipelines. “Waiting until January of 2014, as the governor has suggested, when the applicant intends to have a finalized route for acquiring permits, could be too late in the game.”

Two companies, Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, formed a joint venture earlier this year to develop the pipeline, which has triggered several community meetings and opposition along its proposed route.

The underground pipeline would cut across Kentucky on its way from shale drilling zones in Pennsylvania to the Gulf Coast, skirting Louisville. The gas fields have boomed with the development of drilling methods using hydraulic fracturing, sometimes called fracking.

While natural gas used in homes is methane, natural gas liquids are separated at the well site and can include other hydrocarbons, such as ethane, propane, butane, isobutane and pentanes.

Pipelines carrying natural gas liquids are not regulated as stringently as those carrying natural gas.